NBC is bringing back college football sitcom 'Coach'

Minnesota State Screaming Eagles’ fans rejoice, America’s favorite fictional college football program is coming back to television.

The sitcom Coach, which starred Craig T. Nelson as coach Hayden Fox, is getting a reboot. NBC has picked up 13 episodes of the popular college football comedy. There is no announced premiere date.

And we couldn’t be more excited. Well, those of us on the Dr. Saturday staff old enough to remember and appreciate the show.

The original series aired for nine seasons from 1987-1997 on ABC. Fox was the coach of Division I-A’s Minnesota State University Screaming Eagles (and the final two seasons as the coach of the NFL’s Orlando Breakers). He had two lovable but bumbling assistant coaches in Luther Van Dam, who was played by Jerry Van Dyke (remarkably, still alive), and Michael “Dauber” Dybinkski, who was played by Bill Fagerbakke. The show also starred Shelly Fabares as Fox’s wife Christine Armstrong.

Nelson actually won an Emmy for his role as Fox in 1992.

The reboot will take place 18 years after Fox left Minnesota State, which is pretty much on schedule. Fox (once again played by Nelson) will return to the sidelines to help his grown son, who is coaching an Ivy League program in Pennsylvania that is just starting a football team.

Those Coach diehards will remember that the series concluded with Fox and Christine adopting a child after they were unable to conceive.

As of right now, Nelson is the only returning cast member from the original series.

If you’re like our writer Sam Cooper and not familiar with the show (he was 6 when it ended), you can catch up on Netflix, which just added 199 episodes to its catalog.

But here are a few clips to whet your coaching whistle:

Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday

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